Worley, the only quarterback on Tennessee's roster with any college playing experience, learned he had won the starting job Sunday night when coach Butch Jones and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian met individually with each of the four contenders. Jones formally announced Worley as the starter Monday afternoon at a news conference.

"Just knowing officially that I'm the starter, there is a sense of relief," Worley said. "It's an honor and privilege to play quarterback here."

Worley, a junior from Rock Hill, S.C., was competing with redshirt freshman Nathan Peterman and freshmen Riley Ferguson and Joshua Dobbs. Peterman is listed as the second-team quarterback on the depth chart. Jones said he ideally would like to redshirt one of the two freshmen, but he didn't say whether one was ahead of the other.

Jones said Worley's experience and ability to take care of the football gave him a slight edge. Worley started three games in place of an injured Tyler Bray in 2011. Worley now must try to replace Bray, who threw for 3,612 yards and 34 touchdowns last season.

"It was a very, very tight race," Jones said. "I thought all four individuals did a great job. I think they all really advanced their growth and development throughout the course of training camp, but we just thought Justin was just a little bit ahead of the other three individuals."

Worley is 63-for-110 for 738 yards with five interceptions and one touchdown pass in nine career games. His experience could prove beneficial as he tries throwing to inexperienced receivers who must replace NFL first-round pick Cordarrelle Patterson and second-round selection Justin Hunter.

Kansas State goes with Waters

Jake Waters will be under center when defending Big 12 champion Kansas State opens its season Friday night against defending FCS champion North Dakota State.

Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said on the Big 12's media teleconference Monday the junior college transfer was more consistent throughout fall camp than Daniel Sams, who backed up departed Heisman Trophy finalist Collin Klein last season.

Snyder did say that both quarterbacks will play against the Bison.

Waters is considered the more polished passer after throwing for more than 3,500 yards, 39 touchdowns and only three interceptions for Iowa Western Community College last season.

Waters joined the program for the spring semester, and both of the quarterbacks took reps with the first-team offense leading up to the week of their opener.

"We were fortunate to have him at midterm last year, so he got to go through the offseason program, learn a little about what our work habits and invest himself in study time as it relates to our offense," Snyder said. "There's an awful lot to learn as a quarterback."

That's particularly true in Snyder's complex system, which utilizes elements of the read-option along with other offensive sets to confuse opposing defenses.

"I think as much as anything," Snyder said, "he invested himself and he truly worked at it extremely hard and did above and beyond what was asked of him."

Sams is considered the better runner. He had 235 yards and three touchdowns on the ground while playing in parts of eight games last year.

Oregon State chooses Mannion

Junior Sean Mannion will start at quarterback for Oregon State in the team's season opener against Eastern Washington, the team announced on Monday.

Mannion beat out senior Cody Vaz, who took over for Mannion last season after the junior suffered a knee injury early in the year. Mannion, the Freshman All-American, has proven his abilities under center. He threw for 3,328 yards in 2011.

Mannion piloted the Beavers to a 4-0 start by averaging 339.5 passing yards per game early last season, but he's also been inconsistent throughout his career - throwing 31 interceptions to go with 31 touchdowns.

Elsewhere in the Big 12

With only a few practices left before season openers this week, four of the 10 teams in the Big 12 haven't even named a starting quarterback.

TCU coach Gary Patterson said Monday that everybody will know who starts for the 20th-ranked Horned Frogs when either Casey Pachall or Trevone Boykin run out on the field Saturday night against 13th-ranked LSU in Arlington, Texas.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy plans to play Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh, though he won't say who's taking the first snap Saturday in Houston against Mississippi State.

The quarterback competition at West Virginia is down to Florida State transfer Clint Trickett or Paul Millard, who was Geno Smith's backup the past two seasons. Texas Tech will have one of two freshmen, though both could play Friday night at Southern Methodist.